Here is some information on the Netball action in the university.
As the Wits Internal Netball League (WINL) takes a breather at the end of the term, the Wits Netball Club gets ready to participate in the University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournament next month.
The club is going to be participating in the upcoming USSA National Institutional Netball Championship from June 29 to July 3, hosted by the University of Johannesburg. Wits came second in the B-Section last year.
Ofentse Moropa, Wits Netball Club Vice Chairperson, said: “This year we are hoping to win Gold so that we can be promoted to the A section”.
The netball club is also planning to have the Quad Series later in the year that will feature four other tertiary institutions in Gauteng. The best two teams from each institution will play against one another.
The club is the main team that represents the university against other institutions. The WINL is an internal league that allows any school, residence or club within Wits to join.
“The idea is to get people that are interested in netball to form their own parties and participate in the league,” says Eunice Montso, WINL vice-chairperson.
The best players of the league get a chance to participate in the main team that represents Wits against other teams. Each team is made up of seven players and one male player per team is allowed.
The league began in March and now takes a mid-league break to give participants a chance to study for exams.
Of the 15 teams, the Brainwashers and the Medics are topping the league. The Brainwashers have shown excellent form in the last few weeks winning all eight of their matches. Reigning champions the Medics are left in second place with one game in hand.
Braamfontein Centre, Esselen, Girton Hall and Zenith are teams at the bottom of the log. They have respectively played between six and seven games and have struggled to gain points in as many games.
The league starts again in July with Jubilee taking on Girton Hall at 6pm sharp at the Diggs Fields on the university’s West Campus. League games will run until 17 September.
The Premier Soccer League (PSL) finished off the 2014/15 with its annual awards ceremony at the Sandton Convention Centre last night.
Kaizer Chiefs’ Tefu Mashamaite walked away with half a million rands and the title of the best player in the Premier Soccer League last night. Mashamaite also won the defender of the season and players’ player of the season awards at the
Another big winner for the evening was veteran midfielder Teko Modise of Mamelodi Sundowns. The 32-year-old Modise walked away with awards for midfielder of the season and player of the tournament in the Nedbank Cup.
Bidvest Wits, who finished third in the PSL at 52 points, went into the awards with three nominations. Moneeb ‘Slimkat’ Josephs took the goalkeeper of the season nod while Phumlani Ntshangase was chosen as the young player of the season.
Wits’ Thulani Hlatshwayo was also nominated but lost the defender of the season award to Mashamaite.
Kazier Chiefs were the biggest winners of the evening, with two pieces of silverware under their belt from the MTN 8 and the ABSA Premiership 2014/15 title. Coach Stuart Baxter of Amakhosi Amahle walked away with coach of the season and George Maluleke was the last man standing in the MTN 8.
A complete list of the winners is below:
TELKOM KNOCKOUT:
Champions: SuperSport United
Player of the Tournament: Dove Wome (Supersport United)
MTN 8:
Champions: Kazier Chiefs
Last Man Standing (player of the tournament): George Maluleke (Kazier Chiefs)
All three nominated players in this category were from Kazier Chiefs
Nedbank Cup:
Champions: Mamelodi Sundowns
Player of the Tournament: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Young Player of the Tournament: Tashreeq Morris (Ajax Cape Town)
Other awards within the PSL:
Top Goal scorer in the National First Division: Phumelele Bhengu (Thanda Royal Zulu)
Multichoice Diski Challenge Player of the Tournament: Dikgang Ngcobo (University of Pretoria)
Referee of the Season: Phillip Tinyani
Assistant Referee of the Season: Peter Chauke
Chairman’s Award: Botha Msila – staunch supporter of Bloemfontein Celtics
ABSA Premiership
Goalkeeper of the Season: Moneeb Josephs (Bidvest Wits)
Young Player of the Season: Phumlani Ntshangase (Bidvest Wits)
Coach of the Season: Stuart Baxter (Kazier Chiefs)
Top Goal Scorer of the Season: Moeketsi Sekola (Free State Stars)
ABSA Premiership Champs: Kazier Chiefs
Defender of the Season: Tefu Mashamaite (Kazier Chiefs)
Midfielder of the Season: Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
The Wits Chess Club is set to host their Blitz Chess Tournament on May 16, in a bid to launch a new sponsorship deal with Donate-A-Piece. The organization donated a new outdoor chess board and sponsored the Chess Warriors in their 2015 USSA campaign.
CHECKMATE: Wits Chess Club chair, Evasan Chettiar (left) holds full SA colours and the World University (FISU) colours. He represented University Sports South Africa at the World University Chess Championship held in Katowice, Poland, forming half of the South African team. Photo: File
Donate-A-Piece is a chess organisation aimed at encouraging participation in sport, donated a new outdoor chess board to the Wits Chess Club in April 2015, which is aimed at investing knowledge to chess players at Wits.
Club chair Evasan Chettiar, third-year BEng, told Wits Vuvuzela that the person behind the sponsorship is Zweli Mabaso, a former Wits Chess Club chairperson
“The aim of the event is to attract strong chess players from around Johannesburg to introduce them to the strong chess scene at Wits, potentially getting them more involved with the club, and promoting the club’s new relationship with Donate-A-Piece,” he said.
The Donate-A-Piece Wits Blitz Chess tournament is a speed chess tournament with a R1200 prize.
The chess community at Wits provides both formal and informal chess tournaments. “Every year, we send a team of our most talented men and women to represent Wits at the University Sports South Africa (USSA) National Institutional Chess Open,” he said.
The club has featured in the top three university chess clubs in South Africa for the past six years.
In 2014, for the first time in Wits history, two of the club’s members, third-year LLB student, Seadimo Tlale and third-year BEng student Evasan Chettiar, represented USSA at the World University Chess Championship held in Katowice, Poland, forming half of the South African team.
This year, with more than 100 registered members, the club hosted several formal tournaments, encouraging members to stay active and preparing them for the USSA.
“Students can expect to see some of the country’s highest rated chess playing students facing off in exciting games. Anyone interested in putting their skills to the test are more than welcome to enter this open tournament,’ said Chettiar.
The tournament will take place at Bozzoli Sports Hall at the Bozzoli Sports Pavilion (East Campus) from 9am to 4pm on Saturday.
A R100 entry fee will be applied to non-members and R80 if registered online, all proceeds will go towards the club.
The tournament will be of a 9-round Swiss system format.
Wits Students and staff should get their running shoes ready to participate in the Vowfm Day Run in support of charity.
Wits University’s campus radio station, Vowfm, in collaboration with the Wits Sports Council, is hosting a ‘Winter Day Run’ on main campus today between 1pm- 2pm. The aim of the event is to collect warm winter clothing for needy students and for some charities. The station has launched its fourth annual “Winter Collection Drive,” and the run forms part of this initiative.
“This is a fun way of getting people to give back,” said station marketing manager, Lucky Mdaweni.
The 4km running course starts and ends at the cricket and hockey fields on east campus on a route that passes the Wits Great Hall.
“Any person jogging could take about 20- 30 minutes to finish the course,” said Vow FM DJ and marketing intern Timothy ‘TMO’ Abrahams.
The winner of the race will walk away with a six month gym contract and the runner up will get a three month contract.
The Wits Citizenship and Community Outreach (WCCO) will be distributing the collected clothes to Wits students and other charities.
Drop boxes have been placed all over campus and at residences for the Wits community to donate clothes at any time.
In the play-offs yesterday, Wits hockey lost to Pukke leaving themselves and the small audience disappointed. But the team was chuffed to take sixth place in the varsity hockey tournament.
FIELD GOAL: Wits hockey’s bench watch the game in suspense as their teammates attempt to fend-off Pukke’s centre forward. Photo: Anlerie de Wet
The Wits hockey team finished the varsity hockey tournament on a low yesterday when they lost round eight’s play-offs against Potchefstroom University (Pukke) 0-2 on the Wits astro turf.
The match started off badly for Wits after Pukke’s number 12, Stephanie Baxter scored a field goal within the first two minutes of the game.
The first three quarters of the game was intense and quick with a back and forth banter after Pukke’s first goal. But after Pukke scored their second goal in the beginning of the last quarter, Wits hopes seemed to have crumbled as their play started to slow down.
“We are a bit disappointed after this game, but we are happy with achieving sixth in the tournament, which was our goal,” said Wits’ captain Wendy Panaino.
Pukke went into the game with a great defensive tactics and put pressure on Wits’ weakness to convert opportunities. Wits’ centre forward struggled to keep the ball and execute goals.
Pukke hockey coach, Elun Hack believes his team’s defence was strong “but the offence let us down because they didn’t stay composed inside the 23.”
According to Wits hockey coach, Pietie Coetzee, her team’s energy was low and they didn’t accomplish what they planned for the game, but they exceeded everyone’s expectations in the tournament.
“Our weakness lies in that we are a young, inexperienced team, although there is unity and a fighting spirit amongst the girls,” said Coetzee.
Wits faced Pukke in round five last Friday and walked away with a 3-2 win. The tables turned yesterday and Pukke grabbed fifth place in the tournament.
Both teams saw the Varsity Hockey tournament as preparation for the University Sport South Africa National Institutional Hockey Championship end of June, which will be hosted in Pietermaritzburg by the University of KwaZulu Natal.
Bidvest Wits come away with their second consecutive third place in the Absa Premiership. Although Wits let their guard down in the last game of the season, they came away with a win at home.
HUMBLE WITS:Bidvest Wits squad posing for a photo with fans on the field after the game. Photo: Anlerie de Wet
The Clever Boys slipped one goal past the Platinum Stars earlier today to finish third, one above Orlando Pirates, on the Absa Premiership table.
After taking to the field at the Bidvest stadium, the teams joined the crowd in a moment of silence for the victims of xenophobia.
The first half was very slow paced with Bidvest Wits holding the majority of the ball possession. The home team received many opportunities at goal but struggled to push it through.
After a number of attempts at goal, Vincent Pule, in the number twelve jersey, sliced the ball past five Platinum Stars players to put Wits on the score board in the 30th minute.
In the last twenty minutes of the game play slowed as both teams seemed to have lost focus.
The ref gave an extra four minutes for injury time in which Hunt instructed his team to keep the ball and let the time run out. As time ran out Wits kicked the ball out of play and the final whistle blew.
“I’m happy we managed to get a point, but we just couldn’t convert chances,” said Bidvest Wits captain, Buhle Makwanazi. “Platinum Stars have good individual players and are not an easy team to face … although we played well, we need to work on conversions,” said Makhwanazi.
Wits’ goal for the 2014/2015 premiership was to surpass last year’s third place season finish, according to coach Gavin Hunt. “We wanted to do better this year, but third is still fantastic,” Hunt said.
Compared to last season’s statistics, Bidvest Wits are down by three points and had one less win. Kaizer Chiefs won the premiership with Mamelodi Sundowns finishing in second.
Wits gymnasts showed off their supple skills and stretches while they were being tested for Level two at the Gold Reef Rhythmic Gymnastics competition. The girls took on the challenge with smiles all around, confident that they will get gold at USSA in June.
HOOLA HOOPING:Senior Wits gymnast Makgotso Tibane showed impressive structure and skills doing her first competition in rhythmic gymnastics in the hoops section. Photo: Anlerie de Wet
The Wits Gymnastics club showed elegance and poise at the Gold Reef Rhythmic Gymnastics competition last Thursday afternoon on West Campus, Wits University.
Six of the club’s gymnasts participated in the competition in the balls and hoops sections. Even though the majority of the club are brand new to gymnastics, head coach of the Gold Reed Rhythmic club, Maureen van Rooyen believes “they will win USSA with a smile”.
“They are all starting out in rhythmic gymnastics and what they do, they do extremely well,” said Wits gymnastics coach Louise Brown.
There will be another competition in the coming weeks before the club sends its members to the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament taking place in Potchefstroom at the end of June.
Brown explains that these competitions before USSA will give the girls a better opportunity to polish their work and get a feel for what gymnastics competitions are really like.
“We have already practiced a lot and we have the best coaches, so I feel 70% confident that I will win USSA,” said mathematics honours student Vhuhwavho Matibe, who took first place for the balls section with an impressive 12.4 score.
Second-year LLB student and senior in the club, Makgotso Tibane, is positive that the club will do well at USSA, but hopes that after the tournament Wits Sport will take the club seriously.
“We have good abilities and everyone is committed. It would be nice to have some back-up from Wits Sport, because when we get medals, they take the credit,” said first-year BA General student Lihle Petros.
Although funding is a big problem for the club, Brown is more focused on taking on the challenges that the gymnasts are facing within the sport itself.
“Flexibility is the most challenging aspect for those starting a sport like this relatively late in life, but the girls are committed and enthusiastic,” said Brown.
The young Wits Buck Ladies basketball team took a beating from the Soweto Raptors on Tuesday night, but the the big score difference doesn’t faze them.
SHOOTING HOOPS: Wits Buck Ladies will be taking on UJ Galaxy in their next game on Saturday morning at 09:00. Coach Maseko said the team’s goal in the tournament is to make it through a match by ultimately staying in the game and not struggling.
The Soweto Raptors shattered the Wits Buck Ladies basketball team on Tuesday night at Hall 29 with an 11-64 win.
Wits’ second division girls’ team walked on to the court to open the 11th Annual Ashraf Lodewyk Basketball Tournament and took on the provincial and national players that make up the Soweto Raptors.
The Buck Ladies stuck to a run-of-the-mill ‘man-on-man’ defence, which the experienced Raptors took advantage of by stealing a lot of turn-overs. Although the Buck Ladies carried less experience and skills in their team, they appeared to be fitter than the opposition.
“For a team filled with first-time players and first-years, who never played together before, I am very impressed,” said Wits Buck Ladies coach, Manyani Maseko.
The Raptors played a good zone defence set and showed commendable skills, but the consistency in their game seemed to be lacking.
“They applied pressure and up-tempo in spirit, but as substitutions went on the performance was not as intense,” said Raptors coach, Nthato Selebi.
The Raptors’ girls went into the game knowing they would win, but the score wasn’t the most important factor, according to their captain Charmaine Amada. “The score doesn’t matter. Without effort the game is pointless.”
The Buck Ladies were thrown into the deep end with having to play the Raptors for their first game, but took on this massive challenge with confidence- after the nerves settled.
Wits Buck Ladies captain, Nyasha Chakanetsa, said she wasn’t phased by the major score difference. “The tournament for us is to bond and learn to play as a team. My girls did brilliantly and fought till the end.”
Wits Buck Ladies will be taking on UJ Galaxy in their next game on Saturday morning at 09:00. Coach Maseko said the team’s goal in the tournament is to make it through a match by ultimately staying in the game and not struggling.
The Varsity Cricket preparatory T20 tournament put Wits’ cricketers up against the LPL All Stars on Tuesday night and saw Wits crumble under the opposition’s batting power.
STUNNED SILENCE: The Wits performance cricket squad watching their team mates bat from the Walter Milton oval’s balcony during the first innings of Tuesday night’s game against Lenasia Premier League All Stars. LPL beat the Wits squad’s score of 146 for five with three overs to spare. Photo: Anlerie de Wet
The LPL All Stars hit Wits’ high performance cricket squad for six on Tuesday night at the Walter Milton oval with three overs to spare.
The Varsity Cricket preparatory T20 tournament has lined-up Wits to play a five match series against the Lenasia Premier League (LPL) All Stars.
Their first match on Tuesday night gave us a taste of some of the skills and action we can expect from the rest of the series.
Wits made 146 for the loss of five wickets in their 20 overs. LPL chased down the score in just 17.4 overs with 7 wickets remaining.
LPL’s opening batsman, 22-year-old Yassar Cook, was batsman of the game with an undefeated 71 off just 51 balls. Cook’s fellow Gauteng squad teammate Nono Pongolo (25) was Wits’ top scorer and captain, who scored an unbeaten 43 runs off just 33 balls.
“The main focus for us with this tournament is to make sure that our youngsters who were chosen from the LPL tournament learn something and become better cricketers”, said LPL coach, Juan Le-Maitre.
To the Wits squad coach, Neil Levenson, a win was important, “but it’s more about the development of the squad and pushing the players a bit more.”
After playing the same team a few times they start to pick-up your tactics, which is the challenge of this tournament, according to Coach Le-Maitre.
“The Wits team has a good young side and we shouldn’t underestimate them”, said LPL captain, Juanré Potgieter. LPL’s weakness lies in that they can take the Wits squad for granted, because they have a better team with more provincial players, according to Potgieter.
Before the game Pongolo told his squad to learn as much as they can from the more experienced LPL team and enjoy the ride. “This is such a big occasion and as much as we want to win the tournament, our sole focus is to grow as a team.”
Despite the loss, the Wits squad keeps a professional mentality. “We’ve been working on T20 skills after the season break. We studied the opposing team’s player profiles and know the players well,” said Levenson.
With four games left to play in the tournament the final wicket hasn’t fallen yet and Wits still stands a chance at lifting the trophy.
John ‘Shoes’ Moshoeu former Bafana Bafana and Kazier Chiefs player passed away on Tuesday afternoon at the age 49. He died after a long battle with cancer. Moshoeu’s skill and passion for football made him a delight to watch. In memory of this football giant, here are some highlights of his illustrious career.
1.’ Shooooooozzzzzzzzzz’ As Moshoeu was affectionately known played 73 games in Bafana colours. In total he scored 8 goals for them.
2. Moshoeu, an attacking midfielder, was coach of Alexandra United FC, an amateur ABC Motsepe League side, up until May 2014
The club that Moshoeu coached of till May 2014.
The ABC Motsepe League, formerly known as the Vodacom League is the National Second Division league and it is the third tier of the South African Football structure.
3. He played internationally as well for Turkish clubs such as Fenerbahçe and Bursaspor between 1997-2003, appearing 123 times in total for both teams.
Fenerbahçe
Both teams form part of the Turkish Süper Lig, which is the professional soccer league in Turkey.
4. Moshoeu became one of the oldest players to have appeared in the African Cup of Nations in 2004. Shortly afterwards he ended his international career.
Legend: Former Bafana Bafana and Kazier Chiefs player, Shoes Moshoeu. Photo: Goal.com
5.Most important of all, it seems Shoes was a wonderful human being, and an equally wonderful sportsman. Here are some tweets from former team mates and people he’s worked with:
“We became team-mates & room-mates at Kaizer Chiefs & Bafana Bafana. I will miss him & may his (Shoes) soul rest in peace” – Doctor Khumalo
Moshoeu was one of the top players during Bafana Bafana’s triumphant Africa Cup of Nations in 1996. He was capped 73 times for South Africa and scored eight times.
The South African Sports Minister, Fikile Mbalula passed condolonces to Moshoeu’s family and football fraternity.
Just got the sad news of the passing away of Shoes Mosoeu another football legend #RIPShoes
He began his career in Diepkloof with local football club Blue Whales before joining Kaizer Chiefs. He was one of Kaizer Chiefs’ most valuable players from 1988 to 1993.
In May 2014, Moshoeu hung up his boots after spending several seasons with third-tier side Alexandra United. South African soccer stars and fans have expressed their grief on twitter.
“We became team-mates & room-mates at Kaizer Chiefs & Bafana Bafana. I will miss him & may his (Shoes) soul rest in peace” – Doctor Khumalo — Kaizer Chiefs (@Kaizer_Chiefs) April 21, 2015
GOING PLACES: Wits Judo’s male representative in the USSA and Senior National teams, Calvin Fourie with his collection of championship medals. PHOTO: Anlerie de Wet
Third-year education student, Calvin Fourie, started taking judo classes after school when he was three years old. Now, at the age of 22, Fourie has four national championship wins under his belt and was ranked 9th in the 2013 World Student games.
“I tried out judo because my dad did it and I really enjoyed it. I still do it because it keeps me fit and healthy. I also get to travel the world,” said Fourie.
His success in judo has taken him to championship competitions in Japan, Portugal, Greece, Russia and the USA. Fourie will be adding the stamp of Gabon to his passport when he accompanies the senior national team to Libreville for the Senior African Judo Championships next week.
After placing first in the under 100kg and second in the open weight categories at the USSA Championships end of March, Fourie was selected for the University Sport SA (USSA) team. If the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) decides to send the USSA team to the Judo World Championships, Fourie will be heading to South Korea in July.
Although it is difficult for Fourie to balance his studies and training, he manages to make it work. “If I don’t participate in physical activity my ADD kicks in and I get fidgety and struggle to study.”
He feels very proud every time he represents South Africa. “It’s not an easy thing to make the national team, it’s a real accomplishment.”
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
